Fire spectre looms, but RMG units unfazed

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Jubair Hasan
Over 98 per cent of the local garment manufacturing factories do not follow the fire safety measures keeping the country's biggest foreign currency earning sector vulnerable to recurring accidents that could cost millions of dollars, officials said.
The grim fact comes to the fore once again as a devastating fire that broke out on Friday at Tung Hi Knit and Sweater factory at Jirani in Gazipur, on the outskirts of the capital, left at least five people, including a firefighter, injured. The flames also burnt down valuable machinery and RMG (readymade garments) products.
The government in the year 2000 ordered the apparel makers to recruit an experienced fire officer to ensure safety at the apparel units. The authorities also warned of stern action against anyone not complying.
A decade has elapsed, but most of the RMG manufacturers have yet to be found to be abiding by the order. As a result, the most promising sector, accounting for 80 per cent of the country's total export, has witnessed hundreds of fire incidents in the last ten years that killed several hundred workers.
The industry experienced the most devastating fire incident in the recent years in February this year, when a blaze swept through the Garib & Garib Sweater Factory in Gazipur, killing at least 25 persons, mostly female workers, and injuring hundreds.
"More than 98 per cent of the garment factories don't have enough fire safety measures," Giasuddin Bhuiyan, joint secretary of the fire safety division of BGMEA, told the FE.
He added it could be a big threat to the sector, which comprises 4,500 factories, if the non-compliance continues.
Mr Bhuiyan said the garment owners think they can recruit more than 50 workers with the money they are required to spend on employing a fire officer.
"That's the main reason for not implementing the order," he added.
"The owners will have to be conscious about the issue. Otherwise, fire incidents will continue," Mr Bhuiyan said.
Leaders of Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) and Bangladesh Knitwear Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BKMEA) at a meeting in early April urged the government to increase fire safety monitoring at garment factories.

They also requested the government to allow them to import duty-free ambulances and fire fighting vehicles to increase their fire fighting capacity.
The country's apex apparel manufacturing body, BGMEA, has expressed concern over the matter and introduced a 'crash programme' to make owners and workers aware of the necessity of fire safety.
Under the crash programme, 12 fire teams from BGMEA have so far visited 1,600 factories and trained around 33,000 workers and unit management officials on what they should do when a fire breaks out.
Twenty-four retired firemen are monitoring the fire safety measures at the factories, said Mr Bhuiyan. "But unfortunately, most of them don't have the minimum idea of fire safety. Some factories have fire extinguishers, which remain idle for years."
Fire Brigade sources said about 10,000 incidents of fire occurred in the country in 2009, of which two per cent took place at garment factories.